Top agrifoodtech news this week was all about the ocean. Plant-based seafood-maker Konscious Foods announced new funding, as did impact investor Ocean 14 Capital. Other funding rounds from the week included coffee tech, agribusiness marketplaces, carbon projects and more.
Foodtech funding
🇨🇦 Plant-based seafood brand Konscious Foods raises $26 million seed round. Protein Industries Canada, Zynik Capital and others participated in the round. (FinSMEs)
🇮🇱 Coffee tech startup ansā lands $9 million round led by Jibe Ventures. Funding will go towards a full commercial roll-out of ansā’s hi-tech coffee micro-roaster across North America. (AgReads)
Agtech funding
🇦🇺 Goterra bags AUD $10 million ($6 million). The company will build out its food waste treatment plants that process byproduct from retailer Woolworth’s. (Australian Financial Review)
🇬🇧 Climate startup Revalue Nature secures €9.1 million ($9.9 million) Series A to build out more carbon projects. Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF) and SJF Ventures, co-led the round. (Silicon Canals)
🇮🇩 Beleaf raises $6.9 million to build an agribusiness marketplace for Indonesian farmers. Alpha JWC Ventures led the Series A round. (Tech in Asia)
🇬🇧 Aquanzo raises £1.2 million ($1.5 million) to scale up land-based farming of Artemia shrimp. The pre-seed round includes a grant from Innovate UK with Scotland’s Rural Collage (SRUC) and Agri-Epi. (The Fish Site)
M&A IPOs & partnerships
🇺🇸 The LIVEKINDLY Collective (LKC) acquires Alpha Foods. The deal will expand LIVEKINDLY’s portfolio of plant-based foods. (AFN)
🇺🇸 Biome Makers & California team up. The soil health startup will offer its expertise and lab services to applicants of the CDFA‘s Healthy Soils Demonstration Program. (CropLife)
Funds, grants & accelerators
🇬🇧 Convex Group & others pour €30 million ($33 million) into impact investment firm Ocean 14 Capital. The blue economy fund is now targeting €200 million by the end of 2023. (Tech.eu)
🇺🇸 Indiana awards Purdue alumni-founded startup anu $200,000. The Indiana Manufacturing Readiness Grant will enable anu to mass manufacture its aeroponic seed pod consumables. (Purdue)
🇬🇧 Resurrect Bio gets £50,000 ($69,000) grant from the Innovate UK Transformative Technologies Funding competition. The startup won for its project bioengineering sugar beets for aphid resistance and virus control. (LinkedIn) [Disclosure: AgFunder News parent company AgFunder is an investor in Resurrect Bio.]
🇦🇺 Hiringa Energy and Sundown Pastoral Co get AUD$35.8 million ($23.6 million) from New South Wales Government. The money will go towards a “green hydrogen” facility. (AFN)
Other news
🇺🇸 Virtual restaurant brand MrBeast sues partner Virtual Dining Concepts over “inedible” burgers. The suit alleges RBI delivered low-quality, late and unbranded products to customers. (Bloomberg)
🇺🇸 U.S. Representative James P. McGovern introduces The Peas, Legumes, and Nuts Today (PLANT) Act. The bill offers a blueprint for bringing more plant-based food production to farms. (McGovern House)
🇸🇬 Next Gen Foods rebrands to TiNDLE Foods, its plant-based chicken subsidiary. The company will also expand its product lineup to include vegan sausages and plant-based milk. (Green Queen)
🇺🇸 White Castle will bring AI to over 100 drive thrus. The QSR chain is partnering with audio/speech recognition tech company SoundHound for the initiative. (Restaurant Dive)
🇮🇱 🇺🇸 Israeli startup Chunk Foods has made its US debut at Charley’s Steak House in Florida with plant-based steaks. The steaks are made from soy flour fermented with food-grade microorganisms in a proprietary solid state fermentation process. (VegNews)
🇺🇸 Kraft Heinz says it will cut its use of virgin plastics by 20% by 2030. The CPG estimates this will be more than 100 million pounds of plastic. (FoodNavigator-USA)
🇮🇳 Food delivery service Zomato reaches profitability for the first time. The company posted a consolidated quarterly profit, saying more consumers are buying food and groceries on the platform. (Deal Street Asia)
🇺🇸 Former FDA deputy commissioner Frank Yiannas joins IoT company Wiliot as strategic advisor. Yiannas will advise the company on integrating its IoT platform into food traceability strategies. (AFN)
